J.A. Jance is the New York Times bestselling author of both the J. P. Beaumont series and the Joanna Brady Series. She has written 40 novels and she has more than 10 million copies of her books in print. Visit her Web site: JAJance.com.

A ‘G’ Blog

I’ve been G. this week, aka Grandma. I’ve been to King Tut. I’ve been to the Seattle Children’s Museum. I’ve ridden the monorail. I rode it for the first time in 1962 during the Fair. We’ve read some Order of the Phoenix. I’ve learned that when a seven year old is REALLY hungry, he can eat his weight in pancakes. (I did not cook the pancakes. We were in a restaurant.) Last week we saw the Wizard of Oz. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t fun.

In the King Tut exhibit, I ponied up twelve bucks so we could have devices that would narrate the exhibit or, as Colt called them, “remotes” that came complete with three feet of cord apiece. Mine didn’t work from the get go. Maybe I just didn’t have the volume turned up. Or maybe it was in the current electronics parlance “a brick.”

The King Tut Exhibit works as follows. They let people in, 50 at a time, whether the exhibit is ready or not. We walked into the first room. Colt slipped into the crowd and disappeared. After a moment of grandmotherly panic, I found him. Whew!!! Then he wanted to see something. He is short. He needed to be in front. I am tall. I did NOT need to be in front. Before we went into the next room, inspiration hit. I used the two cords on the “remotes.” to tether them together. Colt could go to the front of any crowd. When he was ready to move on, I simply followed the string. The guys who collected the “remotes” at the end of the exhibit were not amused when they had to untangle them, but working of not, I felt we had gotten our money’s worth.

What this week has done for me is this: It has given me an even more healthy respect for what Kindergarten and First Grade teachers do every day of every week with up to and including 30 kids. It has given me an incredible respect for other grandparents, people my age, who have taken off the grandparent hats, put on the parent hats, and are raising their children’s children.

And it has made me incredibly grateful for my children who are raising polite, well behaved, and well adjusted children.

So color me happy to be a grandmother. Next week I will return to being a writer.